I was recently tagged by the lovely Bex to enter the Budget Bucket List competition by Money Supermarket. As soon as I read her post and all the details, I knew I had to enter, because my entry would cover something I'm planning to blog about soon anyway!
I actually only work part time at the moment and I don't know if that's because I don't have a huge passion to kick start a 'career' right now, or if it's just because it's really bloody hard to find a full time job. Don't get me wrong, I'd love a full time job doing something like writing for a magazine or anything to do with the media, but it's really hard to find the drive to start a long term career in a job you don't really want. It's tough writing this without wanting to sound ungrateful - I don't mean to say that if I did have a full time job right now I wouldn't give it my all. It's just at the end of the day I'm 23 years old and have been working since I finished university. I really, really want to travel a bit before I commit myself to a career that will stop me travelling in future. But the sad part is, to travel, I need money. And I need a proper full time job to save enough money to travel. Do you see my problem here?
Therefore, the theme of travel definitely prominent in my Budget Bucket List competition. The idea is that we're supposed to mention two things from your bucket list; one budget and one extravagant. So let's get on with it, shall we?
My extravagant bucket list item would be, of course, to travel across America, as mentioned many times before. It has been my dream for many years now, and I'm not even entirely sure why. I'm just obsessed with the place. When I close my eyes and imagine my all American road trip, I think about driving through a desert, windows down, music loud and laughing my head off with my best friends. I imagine crowding into a run down dive bar with nothing but good company, classic drinks and an old jukebox. I think about taking loads of pictures and movies of me and my friends just messing around. I imagine stopping at all the really quirky and weird road stops that places are known for. I want to talk to the locals, hearing stories about their home and where they think we should go that would accurately represent where they live.
Finally, where would I actually go? Well that's a tough one, because I want to visit so many different places, but I'm also open to suggestions. Generally I want to do a coast to coast trip, so the places that I'd definitely visit include..
Arizona, San Francisco, Vegas, New Orleans & New York - images taken from Google!
So what's stopping me? I'd hoped to already be on this trip by now, really putting a lot of thought into it last year and making plans. But lack of money (and a full time job!) has unfortunately put this idea on the back burner for now. Still, I suppose there's still hope for 2014...and it would mean a lot for me to go on this trip because I feel like my life isn't really going anywhere right now, probably because I'm not very fussed about doing much with my life. I don't have the drive to find a proper job or move out or anything like that and I think that's because I've never really had a break! Lots of people travelled before they went to university and I didn't. I'm not sure what I want to do with my life right now but as cliche as it sounds, I think the opportunity to take a good few months off from 'my life' to just travel, make new memories, 'find myself' (corny I know!) and just not worry about my future would actually make a lot of difference. I think I'd come home determined to finally get on with things.
And for the budget item, I'd love to do a mini road trip around the UK! As much as I'm obsessed with America, I'm quite appreciative of the UK too. I think we have so many quirky and cute things to offer; we have a great nightlife; we have castles and countryside and generally, even though it rains all the time, England can be pretty damn cool. So lately me and my friends have been talking about doing a week long little trip around the UK to coincide with two of our favourite bands choosing to tour together. Since the bands aren't actually coming to London which would be our local place to see them, and they're our favourite bands of all time, we knew we still had to see them and had to pick a date to travel to. But we couldn't decide. What's nearer - Leeds or Liverpool? What about Edinburgh - it's far, but it's a really beautiful place. And then we had an idea and decided to just go to all of them! We've worked out that the trip will cost about £250 each and I personally think it's the perfect alternative budget idea to my big American road trip. The idea of travelling around a country we know so well anyway, being able to see our favourite bands, create good memories and visit all the quirky places we know England has to offer means this is very much a road trip we'd like to do this November. With £250 covering visits to Newcastle, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds and Wolverhampton we think it's a complete budget bargain!
And what's stopping me booking this all up right now? Again, it's money. If I saved, I would probably be able to afford this at a push, but with hotel prices creeping up every day and the fear of the gigs becoming sold out before I have the chance to book them (most dates sold out last time the band was here!), means that I'd really love to have the money to book it all ASAP. So if I won this competition, the money would definitely cover this trip by far, and I'd maybe even have some money left over to cover my American road trip too. And if not? We'll be putting the extra cash into booking a party apartment for our night in Liverpool, with rooms offering jacuzzi's photo booths and even in room bars. So even though the whole trip will be budgeted, there's nothing wrong with having one big 'out there' night to treat ourselves, adding a little extravagance into an otherwise budget trip ;)
And yes, if that's the case, I promise you all we'll try our hardest to get both of the bands to come back and party with us!
This trip would also mean a lot to me because it would include roadtripping with two of my closest friends who have actually become close friends because of music. I met both of them at gigs earlier this year and our biggest passion as a group is music. It would mean the absolute world to me to have the opportunity to travel around the UK celebrating just that; going to gigs, creating the ultimate road trip play list and just generally having a good time. The two friends I go with work CONSTANTLY and haven't been on holiday yet this year, so I know they'd like the break, and again, like the American road trip, I know a break would do me good.
I also think the trip would help me and another friend who blogs a LOT. We've already talked about the idea of encorporating the whole thing into lots of blog content, including writing about how we arranged it all, the best places to visit in each city, reviewing the gigs, what we wore, our soundtrack to the trip and more. Finally, we've been in touch to see if we can even interview one of the bands. So if this trip went ahead, it would benefit me in terms of blogging/a career in social media greately because it would give me lots of original content for my blog. And hopefully it would help me kickstart the idea of interviewing bands as a side project which is something else I've began thinking of doing lately!
This trip would also mean a lot to me because it would include roadtripping with two of my closest friends who have actually become close friends because of music. I met both of them at gigs earlier this year and our biggest passion as a group is music. It would mean the absolute world to me to have the opportunity to travel around the UK celebrating just that; going to gigs, creating the ultimate road trip play list and just generally having a good time. The two friends I go with work CONSTANTLY and haven't been on holiday yet this year, so I know they'd like the break, and again, like the American road trip, I know a break would do me good.
I also think the trip would help me and another friend who blogs a LOT. We've already talked about the idea of encorporating the whole thing into lots of blog content, including writing about how we arranged it all, the best places to visit in each city, reviewing the gigs, what we wore, our soundtrack to the trip and more. Finally, we've been in touch to see if we can even interview one of the bands. So if this trip went ahead, it would benefit me in terms of blogging/a career in social media greately because it would give me lots of original content for my blog. And hopefully it would help me kickstart the idea of interviewing bands as a side project which is something else I've began thinking of doing lately!
What do you think? What would be on your bucket list - both extravagant and budget?
